| October 22, 2001 Bolivia's Zero Coca Program Leaving Hunger in its Wake by Ronald J. Morgan In December 2000, Bolivia's President Hugo Banzer Suarez visited Chimoré in the tropical zone of Cochabamba and declared victory for his zero coca program known as Plan Dignity. But for Epifanio Cruz Centellas, mayor of Chimoré for the past six years, the coca eradication program that began in 1997 is anything but a success. Instead, he claims that Plan Dignity, which is being used as the blueprint for coca eradication and alternative development programs getting under way in Colombia and other nations targeted by the Bush Administration's Andean Initiative, has serious flaws. Cruz says these problems are pushing some 35,000 former coca-growing families in the Chapare region toward economic ruin, hunger and, inevitably, back to coca cultivation. While the government has eradicated most of the coca plantings--from 97,250 acres in 1997 to just 15,000 acres--it has not come through with the promised alternative development. The $80 million U.S. and $23 million European Union alternative development programs have produced meager results. Lack of adequate planning and development of markets are being blamed, as are the government's efforts to undermine local coca growing federations by requiring that farmers drop their membership and join alternative crop producer unions in order to become eligible for the programs. In recent months thousands of coca growers have been conducting vigils at military bases in Chapare. They are demanding the removal of the bases and the right to grow a cato of coca (130 square feet) in order to support their families until a remunerative alternative actually develops. They have turned down a government counter offer of $900 for one year to grow an alternative crop, claiming it will not guarantee earnings in future years. Following the farmers' rejection of the offer, the government mobilized 20,000 troops and vowed it would not let the coca growers close major roads again this year. The U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, has publicly warned the Bolivian government not to accept the cato of coca proposal or it will face a reduction in U.S. assistance. "The aid is based on a commitment. If this commitment is not kept the aid will decrease," Rocha told the press. The Bolivian military is viewing the peasant vigils as a threat to the lives of military personnel and have reported attacks by snipers and with homemade explosives. In September the new government of President Jorge Quiroga marked its first campesino death when Ramon Perez, 42, was shot dead by soldiers at Lomo Alto while he was leading a group of Bolivian journalists to the entrance of the local military base. Still another death occurred on October 16 when soldiers breaking up a protest near Entre Rios killed Nilda Escobar, 38, with a tear gas canister. Since 1997, 59 campesinos and seven soldiers have been killed. The Chapare region is under military occupation with more than 2,000 troops stationed at nine camps. Meanwhile, there are plans to build three larger permanent bases. Since the passage of drug trafficking law 1008 in 1987, some 40,000 persons have been arrested. Many have languished in prison for years without proper judicial process, sometimes for possession of as little as five liters of kerosene that authorities assume is being used to process cocaine. The following is an interview with Epifanio Cruz Centellas, the mayor of Chimoré, who discusses the current situation in the Chapare: See Interview |